This application from California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) located on the University of California (UC), Davis campus seeks to obtain federal funding through the American Recovery Act Limited Competition Extramural Research Facility Improvement Program (C06) to construct a 19,124 gross square foot (GSF) Respiratory Diseases Center (RDC) that includes office and laboratory space, an inhalation exposure facility, animal holding space, and a laboratory space for pulmonary function testing. This space will expand the existing Respiratory Diseases Research Unit at the CNPRC, allowing the program to accommodate the needs of off-site investigators. This facility is proposed to serve as a national resource and will provide research support to 12 CNPRC investigators, 14 Other UC Davis investigators, and 42 investigators representing 28 other institutions.
The specific aims of the proposed RD Center project are to * address significant physical deficiencies in our current inhalation exposure facility; * expand exposure chamber capacity to meet increased research demands; * add a room to expand studies related to second hand tobacco smoke; * add a clean filtered air room and a room with metabolism cages for animal holding; * expand the size and capabilities of our growing pulmonary function laboratory; * expand the size of laboratory and office space for RD Unit to co-locate RD researchers in one secure location adjacent to the Inhalation Exposure Facility and facilitate increased collaborative opportunities with off-site investigators;and * Create laboratory space for the recruitment of clinical scientists to expand translational research opportunities at the CNPRC. The NCRR guidelines for this C06 grant application provides specific examples of improvements that include #7) Altering/modernizing/constructing space to provide exposure chambers for humans and animals that provide venues for challenge studies with commonly occurring pollutants and #8) Altering/modernizing/constructing space in animal facilities to co-locate equipment for imaging, phenotyping, or environmental challenges. Both of these examples are accomplished by the proposed RD Center C06 application. The RD Center will enable on-site and off-site researchers to further investigate the mechanisms by which environmental pollutants 1) alter prenatal and postnatal lung development;2) exacerbate house dust mite-induced asthma;and 3) exacerbate respiratory infections in nonhuman primates and identify potential targets for novel therapeutics.
